1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in a connecting configuration of wiring harness assembly for use in wiring distribution within vehicles and also relates to a junction box for interconnection of a plurality of wiring harnesses.
2. Description of the Invention
Wiring harness assemblies conventionally adopted heretofore have been configured such that a plurality of branch wires are connected to a primary wire. However, in recent years there has been a tendency to increase the number of electric circuits including relays and fuses in proportion to an increase in the number of various gadgets required due to the driver's tendency to pursue efficiency of comfortability, safety etc. with respect to vehicles. Under the circumstance above, the fact that a wiring harness assembly is likely to grow larger and complicated can not be avoided in a conventional wiring configuration in which a plurality of branch wires are branched from a primary wire, whereby not only substantial time and energy are consumed for production thereof but it has also been made impossible to perform sufficient maintenance including checking and repairing specially in such a case as disconnection of wires or the like.
In order to avoid such problems, there has been disclosed a wiring configuration as shown in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 51-69776 in which various multi-junctions are connected to a primary wire at various parts thereon. However, since many of such multi-junctions are required in accordance with the increase in the number of branch wires to be connected to the primary wire, the tendency of wiring harness assembly to grow larger and complicated can not be avoided even by this method.
Apart from this, there has also been disclosed a wiring configuration as shown in Japanese Patent Application No. 55-46206, wherein a primary wire bundle is provided with a plurality of connector boxes, so that a plurality of branch wires are branched therefrom by coupling the respective connectors thereof to each of the connector boxes. However, since connector boxes have to be prepared as additional components in this configuration, the wiring harness assembly as a whole can be enlarged and made complicated, so that production cost thereof is also raised.
Furthermore, as shown in Japanese Patent Application No. 58-176808, there has been provided a wiring configuration in which a plurality of wiring harnesses each provided with connectors at the opposite ends thereof are aligned in parallel and fixed to each other at a fixing section thereof to form a wiring harness assembly. However, even though this assembly is aligned in an orderly way, as no means for interconnecting respective wiring harnesses is shown therein, no method can be taken for providing so-called branch wires from the primary wire bundle, so that a variety of circuit configurations cannot be established.
Apart form these configurations above, there has also been provided an electrical junction box from another point of view for avoiding the phenomenon that a wiring harness assembly is likely to grow larger and complicated as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2-219413, wherein a plurality of divided wire distribution cases are piled up on one-on-another mode, on each of which primary bars and sub wires are connected to each other, wherein primary bars on the piled distribution cases are interconnected by way of a connecting unit so as to electrically connect the predetermined sub wires to form an entire circuit as a whole. However, even in the junction box as constructed above, since primary bars and a connecting unit for interconnecting the primary bars are adopted therein, substantial number of additional components are required apart from the distribution cases themselves, and the number of joint portions therebetween is also incremented, whereby perfect checking of each of the joint portions is likely to be neglected, and thus operability therearound is deteriorated and reliability thereof is also lowered accordingly.